Today's letters: Canada shouldn't deport Russian scientist

Friday, Nov. 2: Canada shouldn't be deporting a Russian scientist, one letter-writer argues. Others weigh in on climate change and the Pittsburgh attack. You can write to us too, at: letters@ottawacitizen.com

Elena Musikhina is a Russian scientist who has been seeking refugee status. She has been told she and her husband have two weeks to get plane tickets so they can be deported back to Russia. Musikhina has a number of high-profile supporters, including former Liberal minister David Kilgour and Elizabeth May, who have been seeking ministerial intervention to prevent the deportation. Jean Levac / Postmedia News

As I read about the latest release of Igor Gouzenko’s papers, all I could think was: “Have we learned nothing about Russia in the years since 1945?” Dr. Elena Musikhina is surely in danger if she is deported from Canada to Russia.

From the stabbing of Georgi Markov with an umbrella in London, the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, and the horrific torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky, to name only a few, it should be clear that Russia in general, and Vladimir Putin in particular, do not tolerate dissent of any kind.

Canada has accepted refugees from numerous horrible regimes and done so willingly, at great cost, for humanitarian reasons. Although bombs are not dropping on her head, surely Elena Musikhina’s situation is no less dangerous.

There does not appear to be any valid reason for denying her application for asylum but many reasons to believe she would be in danger were she to return. Frankly, the fact that she was allowed to leave the country speaks more to the possibility of her being “only a woman” and thus deemed less of a threat than a man in the same position might have been. Putin is no feminist. Several of Musikhina’s male colleagues had fatal “accidents.”

I fail to see what problem granting Musikhina asylum could cause Canada. Her daughter is already here; she is educated and would be able to contribute to Canadian society. This is the kind of refugee or immigrant any country should be glad to accept. I sincerely hope that the government will reconsider its position and grant this person the protection she deserves.

Sharon W. Moren, Kanata

Adapting to climate change is the priority

Any debate on Canada`s role in fighting climate change should acknowledge two inconvenient but fundamental facts.

The first is that human-caused climate change is real. While nothing in science is ever beyond all doubt, the evidence is so strong that to disregard it would be irresponsible. It poses serious threats to life on Earth.

The second is that no amount of Canadian greenhouse gas emission reductions will make any measurable difference on climate change. We just don’t generate enough of the stuff to matter.

This doesn’t mean that Canada should do nothing. On the contrary, there are several things that we can and should do. A carbon tax, as currently formulated, is not one of them. It looks a lot like a plan to buy votes with our own money. Whatever its merits, the optics are bad.

If we are going to tax carbon, there are much better ways to put the money collected to good use. One is to fund the rapid conversion of coal-fired plants to natural gas. Another is to subsidize clean sources of electricity. We can also fund research into energy storage systems that allow the sun and wind to make up a larger component of our energy mix.

But the most critical use of carbon tax revenues should be the funding of mitigation measures. Climate change will cause much more extreme weather events in Canada than we are used to, no matter how diligent we are in reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions. Our country is very large and infrastructure is costly to build and maintain. It is even more costly to protect against the ravages of climate change. We`d better start to prepare ourselves for the future.

Tony Manera, Kanata

An eloquent warning from Andrew Cohen

Re: Pittsburgh Shooting affects Jews everywhere, Oct. 31.

I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Andrew Cohen for so eloquently expressing his feelings, thoughts and words, for “Jews any here, anywhere.”

As he states, we are bound together, and an attack on you is an attack on me.

Suzanne Kert-Cohen, Ottawa

Cohen’s words apply to us all

I was particularly moved by Andrew Cohen’s column: It is both personal and universal.

For Jews, it expresses the subconscious or suppressed fear that it could happen again. For non-Jews, it provides a sense of why this tragedy, among the far too many tragedies, cuts so deeply for Jews wherever they live.

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